My mother picked up a book for me recently from the author who goes to the same senior citizen center that she does, had it autographed too.
The name of the book is "Please Jesus, Give Me Three More Minutes to Live" by Dr. Harold Hammil. Published by Vantage Press, New York.
While Dr. Hammil is no James Jones, his book is simply his memories of WW2 as an infantryman with the (U.S.) 34th Infantry Division in North Africa and Italy. His highest rank held was P.F.C. so it isn't about the overall strategies of the campaigns he was in but more of what he saw personally.
Stories of butchering a hog, trading on the Black Market, details of actions he was in and the names of his buddies he served with testify that Dr. Hammil had a pretty good recollection of details. Some details such as a partisan telling him that they could tell an American or Brit from a German in the dark by the way they laced their boots or the amount of time needed to hold a hand grenade before throwing it so it couldn't be picked up and thrown back are just a couple of interesting little tidbits contained here.
Overall, the book is quite interesting for someone that would like to know more details of the life of a dog-face American infantryman in WW2, I would recommend it.
Denny
The name of the book is "Please Jesus, Give Me Three More Minutes to Live" by Dr. Harold Hammil. Published by Vantage Press, New York.
While Dr. Hammil is no James Jones, his book is simply his memories of WW2 as an infantryman with the (U.S.) 34th Infantry Division in North Africa and Italy. His highest rank held was P.F.C. so it isn't about the overall strategies of the campaigns he was in but more of what he saw personally.
Stories of butchering a hog, trading on the Black Market, details of actions he was in and the names of his buddies he served with testify that Dr. Hammil had a pretty good recollection of details. Some details such as a partisan telling him that they could tell an American or Brit from a German in the dark by the way they laced their boots or the amount of time needed to hold a hand grenade before throwing it so it couldn't be picked up and thrown back are just a couple of interesting little tidbits contained here.
Overall, the book is quite interesting for someone that would like to know more details of the life of a dog-face American infantryman in WW2, I would recommend it.
Denny
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